it has become somewhat of a tradition for me to visit the farmer's market that is outside of my work every wednesday. on my lunch break i go down and get as much produce and veggies that i can for what i need for the week! it is definitely one of the highlights of my week - i love supporting local, organic farmers and they make it so easy by parking themselves across the street from my work! i get a ton of fresh produce for relatively cheap, and the people who work there are so nice. i hope they stick around even when it gets colder and deeper into winter - I guess i can't expect them to sit out there in the snow!

last night i finally got back in the yoga studio - i used my new membership at bikram yoga tenleytown for a 90 minute session and it felt amazing. i was dripping beads of sweat on my towel throughout the whole thing and i felt so energized after. it really brought about a new energy within me - my outlook and positive energy is slowly coming back and i think getting back into my yoga practice was absolutely the perfect first step.

i also have been doing some research today on feng shui - it has always been something that I have been naturally in tune with, but it is very hard to practice when i live in a one bedroom apartment with two other people. i do want to focus on clearing clutter out (not that I have a lot) but i do notice that having clutter stresses me out, I want to find peace in my room. i will definitely use feng shui principles when i move out into my next place.

I could not be any more excited to be a new member of Bikram Yoga Tenleytown. I started my yoga practice about three years ago and have been practicing on-and-off (mostly off) for that time period. I decided I was ready to finally commit and pay for a membership. I am lucky because I get the student discount at the studio and I don't have to fork over my wallet to be able to afford to practice.

I have been suffering with depression and body-image issues very often lately. I am trying to use my yoga practice as a way to heal myself - I fully believe in natural and holistic healing and I think yoga will train not only my body but my brain as well. I take my first class tonight, and I cannot wait to become a hardcore member of this community.

I posted about this on my Instagram (@fightforthefitlife) earlier today, but I want to reiterate what conclusion I have come to about what is the 'best and healthiest' way to eat. I had a great meal for lunch today (my birthday!) and I was feeling like I needed some greens. I had been to my stepbrother's wedding and brunch and family events all weekend and I felt a need to do a little bit of detox. Although I ate pretty well for a wedding feast, I still knew that my diet was drastically different from how I usually eat (along with my mom trying to force-feed me meat!).

So I made this plate of greens and decided that Veganism is not what it's all about - there is a lot of room for unhealthiness within the range of the vegan diet; just because the food is holistic and proper ethically does not necessarily mean it is healthy. I am going to switch my focus to a more plant-based diet and work on the 80-10-10 principles of eating: 80% carbs (mostly plant based), 10% fat and 10% protein.

Now for the plate: I have savory asparagus (baked in the oven with coconut oil, nutritional yeast, pepper, tamari, and onions), sweet and savory green beans (cooked on the stovetop with onions, coconut sugar, green beans, honey, tamari, salt and pepper). Also I threw in some leftover quinoa-veggie 'scramble' and a small spinach salad.

Spinach is a beauty food that is incorporated into my diet daily - not only do I use it in my Glowing Green Smoothie every morning, I usually have some sort of salad that uses spinach also. On this day of appreciate for spinach, though, I decided to use it in meals rather than a basic salad.

I started off my day with my Glowing Green Smoothie - I got some spinach right off the bat. For lunch I cooked up a 'Greens Stir Fry' - In coconut oil I threw in onions, green beans, asparagus, zucchini, broccoli and spinach, seasoned with tamari, onion powder, and brown rice vinegar.

For dinner I classed it up a little and did a vegan 'carbonara'. I had been watching Food Network while I was at the gym and was inspired to make my own carbonara, vegan edition. I used my raw taco meat, tomatoes, salt & pepper, spinach, and extra virgin olive oil all tossed with gluten-free pasta.

I made the most delicious vegan 'queso' dip - I even had to run down to the store in my apartment complex to get chips to eat it with (though I later found out that I enjoy it even more with celery). I got the recipe from Fork and Beans and had to try and stop myself from eating it all.

I love coconut, so I had too much fun incorporating it into my diet today. I usually start off my morning with a glass of lemon water, however it felt all too appropriate to start it with lemon coconut water. I used my Zico coconut water and half of a lemon sliced into it, and paired it with a banana for my pre-workout breakfast.

I also decided to spoil myself a little and I bought an actual coconut from Whole Foods - I enjoyed drinking the coconut milk straight out of the coconut, and it was very sweet! I also stuck a spoon inside and ate some of the coconut meat - I was too afraid of the hammer to open it all the way!

I prepared some coconut chia seed pudding for dessert also - I used chia seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes, Zico coconut water, and coconut sugar! Put it all in the fridge to let it set for 30 minutes to an hour.

I've started a new project based on Kimberly Snyder's The Beauty Detox Foods - #50daysofbeautyfoods. In Kimberly's book, she outlines the 50 best beauty foods and what they do for your body. I have decided to go through the 50 beauty foods and every day highlight a different one - so I will incorporate that beauty food into as many meals as possible that day. Today I started with my first beauty food - Red Bell Pepper. So naturally, I made stuffed peppers for dinner, and they were absolutely delicious!

Stuffed Pepper FillingRaw Taco 'Meat'

- Topped with Nutritional Yeast and thrown in the oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. I absolutely loved them! (Based on this Greatist recipe)

]]>Sun, 26 Oct 2014 23:27:02 GMThttp://laurensphar.weebly.com/blog/a-cheat-weekendThere's one weekend every month that I allocate a cheat weekend, mostly due to the fact that my boyfriend visits me or I visit him once a month, and our dietary plans are quite different. This weekend was that cheat weekend for me and I'm already feeling so ready to get back on track. I wasn't able to have my smoothies in the morning for the past three days because I was out of greens, celery and bananas - today I made it to the grocery store and am fully stocked and prepared for the week.

I did get to enjoy washington d.c. in a special way with my boyfriend this weekend - it was absolutely gorgeous weather and the leaves are starting to change into the fall season. it was the most perfect weekend for me (and I think I did well at my job interview!)

]]>Sat, 25 Oct 2014 23:31:18 GMThttp://laurensphar.weebly.com/blog/tiny-teach-ggs-editionThis morning, I had to do a job interview for a position as a Resident Assistant on campus at my university. One of the activities that we had to prepare for was called a Tiny Teach - we were given five minutes to present something important to us and teach the class how they can do it, too. I decided to make a Glowing Green Smoothie for my Tiny Teach. I wanted to share how easy it is to incorporate greens into your diet in a healthy, delicious way, and while I made my smoothie for everyone to try I also explained some of the principles from Kimberly Snyder's The Beauty Detox Solution book. I think everyone loved it!]]>